He is distracted, his mind reeling with the newest revelation to a list of lies, to a list of faults. So much so that he does not truly notice the pounding of steps as it race after him. So much so that he confuses his torrid thoughts with the scent of Her as it envelopes him. Her perfume giving him a split second warning before she is upon him, her lithe body like a panther, as she throws her full weight into him. Breath is knocked from his lungs as his legs buckle, their combined weight causing him to up end and down they go. His subconscious recognizing her as he relaxes into the move, knowing that fighting her would be fruitless and really…he didn’t want to fight. He did not want to tussle when he knew the truth when he knew what state her family now existed in.

And then suddenly they are still, she, his Dragonfly stood above him in such a dominating position he had to remember to breathe. Her forepaws were firmly planted on either side of his head, her powerful body rested…well hovered over his as she snarled. Her warm breath washing over him as her saliva coated daggers snap closed with a resounded twat just before shredding his nose. Yet his eyes are not riveted to her delectable mouth, no they are focused on her eyes. Eyes that blaze with her ire yet shimmer with her misery. It is that broken look that causes him to acquiesce to her, to fully give her submission, something that he would never have done before. She hurls more words at him yet he still does not speak, nor does his gaze waver as he lifts up, tongue darting out to caress the fur on her chin. If she allows the gesture will be for but a second before he lays back down, a shuddering breath racking his body as he prepares himself for what does spill forth. ”The question is where have I not been.” A ache that before lay dormant rushes to fill him, consuming him in such emotion, that he can not help but to feel disgust. Disgust at himself.

The more he stares into those fire etched mahogany eyes a part of him dies. It dies a tormented death, for he was not there when she found out. He was not there when she was cast out, wait…he was there…just not here on the mountain. He was on his way to her, to assure himself that she was still safe. He had happened upon the scene too late, there were none left, Dragonfly had already left with her sisters and he knew not to where. He could not speak to his Alphas, could not tell them of his admiration, of the fruits of his travel…of what he had learned. It is in that moment that he felt smaller than the smallest ant. What right did he have to feel grief? To seek vengeance?! He was a fool, a fool who ran when emotions became too much. Instead of learning how to control he ran. Instead of trusting that another would not leave him, he left them first and the knowledge was humbling.

The sorrow within his own optics flicker between his all too familiar buffers of rage before dying down to ashes. Now, nothing lay within them but brokenness. He had thought that he had succeeded, that he would come back stronger and that she would not be in danger yet danger found her when he was absent. He did not protect her and in his twisted mind it was his fault. ”There is nothing that I can say that will excuse my absence nor make it right. I was a fool, I thought that…it does not matter. I…I am sorry.” A lesser wolf would have broken eye contact by now, but he did not. Instead he fought to remain open, to show her everything that passed through his own eyes. He showed her the emotions he felt when he lost his parents, when he was alone. He showed her his anger, his rage that always simmered within him, and lastly he showed her the canyon of anguish. It was a deep dark place that churned within him, that tempered his conniption, that he worked so hard to keep locked up. ”You have a right to my blood for my wrong.” His voice was not strong nor even, it wavered as he finally severed the steady stream of emotions that played across his eyes. Head tilts back, eyes sliding close as he offers her his neck. The brightness of his neck a sharp contrast to the hue of his armor, his mind holding firm the memory of her in all her choler. He will hold this one image close to his heart in case she deigns never to speak to him again, never to lay eyes upon him. Should she take his vocal cords for the grave wrong he has done then it was deserved. He knew her pain, knew that he was in the wrong and the knowledge tore at him. He would do anything, anything to soothe her, to put that sparkle back into the darkness that edges her eyes. ”Forever my Princess, my Dragonfly, I am your sword to use however you see fit. Please…know that I am sorry. So very sorry.” The words are whispered so low that he knows not whether he thought them or not as the fur around his eyes begin to wet from tears that he didn’t even know he shed.